NYC Nursing Home to Pay $19M in Damages for Patient Neglect

A Brooklyn nursing home will have to fork over nearly $19 million in damages to the family of a 76-year-old patient neglected so badly that he left with more than 20 bedsores.

The massive award, handed down by a Brooklyn jury earlier this month, is the first in the state against a nursing home that includes punitive damages, lawyers said.

"It was horrible," said Margaret Whitehurst, 55, who pulled her father, John Danzy, from the Brooklyn Queens Nursing Home after just nine months. "He walked in on two legs and a cane. He was 237 pounds. When we got him back, he was 148 pounds and he had holes all over his body."

She and her siblings moved Danzy, a retired truck driver and butcher, to another nursing home. Six months later, in November 2003, he succumbed to an infection caused by the bedsores, according to testimony.

A Brooklyn jury deliberated two full days following the four-week trial before finding the Cypress Hills facility delivered substandard care.

The panel awarded $3.75 million for Danzy's pain and suffering, but tacked on $15 million in punitive damages, based in part on the allegation that the home had doctored records to try to cover up the neglect.

Lawyer Dennis Kelly said the first-ever imposition of punitive damages against a nursing home in New York state was due in part to evidence that the home tried to cover up the lack of care Danzy was getting.

An FBI expert testified that about 100 different skin-check notes showing "G" for "good" had been penned over to show "B" for "broken" — an effort by the home to claim it hadn't missed the horrific sores, Kelly said.

"Someone went back and wrote B's over the G's to cover their tracks, so they falsified the records, he said. "We believe that once they found out they were being sued, they went back and said, 'How could we have G's here when they guy has 20 sores?' "

The home's CEO, Leopold Berkowitz, did not return a call for comment, and the home's lawyer hung up on a Post reporter.

Kelly said the nursing home restrained the Alzheimer's-stricken Danzy to keep him from wandering off, but left him unattended for long periods.

He said medical standards require that bedridden or restrained patients be moved every two hours to prevent such sores, but that Brooklyn-Queens only moved Danzy every four hours — if at all.

Another of Danzy's daughters, Cynthia, said she and her siblings chose Brooklyn Queens because it was the only facility that had a bed available in 2002, when they realized he could no longer live on his own.

But it's a decision she'll regret forever.

"I think they should be shut down," said Cynthia Danzy, 46. "No one should endure that."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581276,00.html

Suit accuses nursing home of wrongful death

The executor of an estate for a former resident of Richmond Health and Rehabilitation is suing the home’s owners, alleging the resident received injuries there that led to his death.

Michael Cornett, executor of the estate of Jack Cornett, filed the suit Dec. 11 in Madison Circuit Court, accusing Fir Lane Terrace Convalescent Center Inc., doing business as Richmond Health and Rehabilitation Complex-Madison, Extendicare and three Richmond Health and Rehabilitation administrators — Tina McCaulley, Cindy Simpson and Robert Kirk, of providing negligent care that “accelerated the deterioration of Cornett’s health and physical condition beyond that caused by the normal aging process.”

The suit, filed on the one-year anniversary of Jack Cornett’s death, claims he was a resident at the home from early 2008 until he died on Dec. 11, 2008, in St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington. It alleges he suffered various injuries, including pressure sores, dehydration, compromised nutrition, weight loss, poor hygiene, infections, unexplained bruising, multiple falls, unnecessary physical pain, mental suffering and accelerated death.

“Jack Cornett also suffered unnecessary loss of personal dignity, pain and suffering, degradation, emotional distress and hospitalizations, all of which were caused by the negligent and wrongful conduct of the Defendants ... ,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Michael Cornett claims that Extendicare did not maintain adequate staffing at Richmond Health and Rehabilitation, negligently failing to deliver care, services and supervision.

It also alleges that Extendicare did not “develop, implement and follow policies to assist Jack Cornett in attaining and maintaining the highest level of physical, mental and psychological well-being,” failed to maintain Jack Cornett’s records “in accordance with accepted professional standards,” did not provide proper supervision, treatment and assessment to prevent falls and did not provide the resident with enough fluids to prevent dehydration.

The suit says Jack Cornett did not receive adequate sanitary care, medications, repositioning, turning and skin care to prevent the formation of pressure ulcers. Extendicare also is accused of not providing wound care, failing to make an adequate assessment of his nutritional needs, failing to prevent medication errors and a number of other similar claims.

Extendicare did not provide a sufficient number of qualified personnel to meet the resident’s needs, the lawsuit alleges.

“It was foreseeable,” the lawsuit claims, “that the breaches of care listed ... would result in serious injuries and the accelerated death of Jack Cornett.”

“ ... Extendicare Defendants acted with oppression, fraud, malice or were grossly negligent by acting with wanton or reckless disregard for the health and safety of Jack Cornett,” the suit reads.

The suit claims the conduct of the defendants was a “substantial factor in causing” the resident’s death, and asks for a jury trial. The plaintiff asserts a claim for judgment for all compensatory and punitive damages, including medical and funeral expenses and other administrative costs, pain and suffering, the grief suffered by beneficiaries, mental anguish, loss of spousal consortium and loss of life in an amount to be determined by the jury, as well as costs, interest and attorney’s fees.

http://www.richmondregister.com/localnews/local_story_351173131.html

1 Nurse, 2 Caretakers Indicted For Patient Neglect

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Attorney General Jack Conway announced the indictments of a nurse and two caregivers in connection with the alleged neglect of a patient at Creekwood Place Nursing Home in Logan County, Ky.

Barbara A. Moore, a nurse from Beechmont; Destiny W. Duncan, a certified nursing assistant from Russellville; and Melissa L. Lyon, a certified nursing assistant from Olmstead, were each indicted by the Logan County Grand Jury on one count of knowing abuse/neglect of an adult under KRS 209.990(2), a Class C felony.

Each person could face five to 10 years in prison if convicted.

The indictments allege that Lyon performed a single person lift to transfer the victim into bed when the victim’s care plan required a two person lift. This caused the victim to receive a fractured leg. Lyon, along with Duncan, allegedly concealed the true facts of the incident and Moore allegedly failed to call a physician or family member or check on the victim, all of which caused the victim prolonged suffering and pain.

Investigators from the Office of the Attorney General’s Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control investigated this case and presented it to the Logan County Grand Jury. The Grand Jury issued a summons for each defendant to appear for arraignment in Logan Circuit Court on Dec. 10, at 8:30 a.m. Logan County Commonwealth’s Attorney Gail Guiling is handling the prosecution of the case.

http://www.kypost.com/content/news/commonwealth/story/1-Nurse-2-Caretakers-Indicted-For-Patient-Neglect/hE0a8GdPEUyNkWKKEeB_vQ.cspx

Nebraska Supreme Court Refuses to Compel Arbitration in Nursing Home Case

The present case comes as the U.S. Congress considers the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act of 2009. This Act would render pre-dispute arbitration clauses in nursing home contracts unenforceable (Senate version: S.512 and Status; House version: H.R. 1237 and Status).

In Koricic v. Beverly Enters., 278 Neb. 713 (No. S-08-1167), Frank Koricic took his elderly mother, Manda Baker, to Beverly Hallmark (now operating as Beverly Enterprises), a nursing home in Omaha, Nebraska. In 2005, upon her admission into the facility, Koricic signed several documents for his mother, including an optional arbitration agreement.

Baker died in 2007, she allegedly sustained injuries and pain and suffering because of Beverly Hallmark’s negligence. Koricic sued Beverly claiming negligence, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty. Beverly moved to compel arbitration of the claims. The district court concluded that the arbitration agreement was enforceable against Baker’s estate because Koricic had actual authority to sign the arbitration agreement. Koricic now appeals.

The Nebraska Supreme Court stated that whether an agency relationship exits and the scope of that authority are questions of fact. The court found that Baker was an immigrant from Croatia and had limited ability to read, speak, or understand English. Koricic often had to explain the documents to her, but he only took action upon Baker’s direction. Also, Baker was never declared incompetent nor granted Koricic power of attorney over her affairs. When Baker was admitted into the nursing home, Koricic signed the paperwork at an office, outside of Baker’s presence and Koricic never discussed the content of the admission papers with her.

The court discussed agency law principles (actual and apparent authority) and stated that “nothing in the record suggests that a reasonable person should have expected an arbitration agreement to be included with admission documents for a nursing home.”

The court held that Koricic did not have the authority to enter into an arbitration agreement on behalf of his mother because it was not a condition of admission. Accordingly, it remanded the case for further proceedings.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/blogentries/index.html?bbPostId=B5m0VdajtbkdCz9YNmmRPhDTlB3V3Oasws12ABz6R4vfjeDXG&bbParentWidgetId=B97q2AWRRWDfzAO2XZCasAMJ
http://www.karlbayer.com/blog/?p=6040

Chicago Jury finds Nursing Home Guilty in Bedsore Death

OLIET -- A local nursing home must pay up for a patient who died after suffering a huge bedsore that ate through her skin to the bone.

A jury on Monday ruled against Rosewood Care Center and awarded $51,000 to the family of Catherine Taylor in connection with her death in 2004. Rosewood Care Center must also cover the attorney fees incurred by Taylor's children over the course of the 5-year-old lawsuit.

"We feel vindicated that we proved that they did something wrong," said Frank Cservenyak, one of the attorneys representing Taylor's daughter, Mary Pat Barney, who was acting as the administrator of her mother's estate.

Taylor, who was 88 when she died in December 2004, was a resident of Rosewood in July and August 2004, On Aug. 19, 2004, Taylor, a former teacher, was taken to Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center and six days later "underwent a procedure to remove bedsores and treat bone infections brought on by her confinement to her bed and her exposure to urine and other bodily fluids during (her) care," according to the complaint against Rosewood.

"She had a hole in her backside the size of my fist," said an attorney representing Taylor's estate.

And Pyles said the bedsore was the fault of the nursing home staff.

"Rosewood screwed up on 8/18 (2004)," he said. "Everybody who testified in this case has told you about it, and it caused Catherine Taylor's death."

One of the attorneys representing Rosewood, pointed out that Taylor had bedsores on other parts of her body, proving that she did not suffer them as a result of neglect.
"If she wasn't being turned, how did that happen?" He asked the jury in his closing argument. "Something happened to her body that night," McCubbin said. "I don't know what it was. I don't think the doctors know what it was."

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/1914757,4_1_JO02_LAWSUIT_S1-091202.article

100-Year-Old Woman Allegedly Killed in Massachusetts Nursing Home

100-Year-Old Woman Allegedly Killed at Massachusetts Brandon Woods Nursing Home: "Nursing homes often come under great scrutiny for alleged abuse of elderly or infirm inhabitants, but the death of a 100-year-old woman in Dartmouth, Massachusetts was shocking.

CNN.com reports that Laura Lundquist, 98, has been indicted in the murder of Elizabeth Barrow, her roommate at Brandon Woods Nursing Home. It's reported that the 100-year-old Barrow was found with a plastic bag tied over her head on September 24, while an autopsy ruled that strangulation was the cause of death. This is not the first Massachusetts Nursing Home Assault Indictment. Three years ago a nurse was charged with assaulting 4 residents in a Kindred Facility.

Although the roommates were often seen taking walks and ate lunch together daily, there are reports of heated arguments between the two in recent weeks, the latest being about the arrangement of their room. Barrow was displeased that Laura Lundquist had placed a table that seemed to obstruct the elder woman's path to the bathroom. Lundquist assaulted an employee at the home after the aide moved the table, while complaining that the elder roommate 'might as well have the whole room', according to prosecutors in Bristol County. Oddly, the two were still overhead at night saying 'Good night, I love you'."

Nursing home heads rarely disciplined

Illinois nursing home administrators are rarely disciplined when things go wrong -- including violent assaults on elderly patients -- even though the state Health Department, which investigates nursing home assaults and care, refers dozens of cases a year to the agency in charge of meting out punishment.

From 2005 through 2009, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation received 407 complaints from the state's health department. Only three resulted in discipline for nursing home administrators.

Advocates for nursing home residents say that's a sign of a broken system.

"Less than 1 percent is ridiculous," said Toby Edelman, an attorney with the nonprofit Center for Medicare Advocacy. "There should be more accountability on the part of the administrators."

The numbers were put together by a task force Gov. Pat Quinn formed after a series of assaults, rapes and murders in Illinois nursing homes. The task force is looking into why so few cases result discipline, said Michael Gelder, Quinn's senior health adviser. "We're absolutely very concerned about that," he said.

Advocates for nursing home residents are now watching to see whether Jamie L. Lloyd, administrator of Maplewood Care in Elgin, will be disciplined after a 21-year-old mentally ill resident sexually assaulted a 69-year-old woman at the home. The state's complaint alleges Lloyd didn't do enough digging into the young man's past before readmitting him to the Elgin facility. Had Lloyd checked, he would have discovered the former resident had an outstanding arrest warrant on felony battery charges.

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/1935863,CST-NWS-nhome13.article

GAO 2009 Nursing Home Report - Chains Offer Worst Care

GAO 2009 Nursing Home Report - Chains Offer Worst Care

nursing home abuse - elder care neglect |LawyersandSettlements.com

nursing home abuse - elder care neglect |LawyersandSettlements.com

A surveillance camera captured images of nursing home abuse in what has been deemed the second-worst elder care facility in the nation, according to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Richmond Health and Rehabilitation Complex in Madison, also known as Madison Manor, was also ranked the worst facility in the state of Kentucky.

A total of ten Kentucky nursing homes made the national list of poor performers, with nine scoring below the national median. Madison Manor is owned by Extendicare, a for-profit chain that operates 21 facilities in the state. The Lexington Herald Leader reported Wednesday that three Extendicare facilities are on the GAO national list of worst performers.

Last year a hidden camera at the Richmond facility caught images of abuse inflicted on an 84-year-old resident by nursing aides. The resident, Armeda Thomas, has since died. However, in September of last year, Thomas' family hid a video camera in her room at Madison Manor in an effort to explain bruising on the resident's body.

Nursing assistants were seen physically abusing and taunting the Alzheimer's patient. The nursing assistants were also allegedly shown refusing to feed or bathe the resident. Nursing Home abuse is a form of medical malpractice.

Thomas died two months later. Her family proceeded to sue the nursing home, and three nurses' aides were indicted and charged with abuse, according to the Herald Leader. Jaclyn Dawn VanWinkle pleaded guilty earlier this year. Amanda G. Sallee stands trial in March and Valerie Lamb is set to enter a plea early in the new year.

Defendant faces trial in rape of 94-year-old Palo Alto woman - San Jose Mercury News

Defendant faces trial in rape of 94-year-old Palo Alto woman - San Jose Mercury News: "The man charged with raping a 94-year-old woman at her Palo Alto nursing home in 2002 appears headed for a jury trial.
In a five-hour preliminary hearing Friday, expert witnesses testified that compelling DNA evidence linked 42-year-old Roberto Recendes to the crime, and his former girlfriend identified a necklace found at the scene as belonging to him.
It was enough to convince Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Thang Nguyen Barrett that there is probable cause to hold Recendes on charges that could send him to prison for life if he's convicted. But defense attorney Carl Beatty said he believes Friday's testimony also exposed some holes in the prosecution's story.
The case gained national notoriety after Palo Alto police arrested and extracted a confession from a suspect in 2002, only to see him exonerated by DNA evidence. Jorge Hernandez, a Gunn High School graduate who was 18 at the time, was released after three months in jail.
The case appeared as though it might go unsolved; the victim said she never knew her attacker's identity. But in 2004, Recendes was convicted on domestic violence charges in Sunnyvale, and a DNA sample was taken before he was deported to Mexico. Authorities discovered the match two years later and eventually tracked him down, and he was extradited to the United States in 2008.
Meanwhile, the victim died in 2006, according to staff at the Palo Alto Commons nursing home."

Nursing home blamed for resident's sepsis | Madison/St. Clair Record

Nursing home blamed for resident's sepsis Madison/St. Clair Record

Nursing home blamed for resident's sepsis
A woman died after employees at an Illinois nursing home allowed her pressure sores to deteriorate, causing sepsis to flow throughout her blood, a man claims in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Steven Steiner filed a lawsuit Nov. 30 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Caseyville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Caseyville Property.

Steven Steiner claims Anderson Hospital admitted Theresa Mary Steiner on Dec. 6, 2008, after she began experiencing abdominal bleeding.

On Dec. 12, 2008, Caseyville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center admitted Theresa Steiner as its patient, according to the complaint. At the time of her admission, Theresa Steiner had three stage II pressure sores on her buttocks and one pressure sore on each of her heels, the suit states.

However, by the time of her discharge on Dec. 19, 2008, Theresa Steiner had three stage IV pressure sores on her buttocks and multiple pressure sores on her heels, the complaint says.

"Steiner sustained personal injuries, including, but not limited to, development and deterioration of her pressure sores on her buttocks and bilateral heels which, in turn, led to Steiner developing sepsis throughout her bloodstream," the suit states. "On December 19, 2008, Theresa Steiner was hospitalized at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, Illinois, where she subsequently died on January 7, 2009, due to sepsis and acute respiratory failure."

Before her death, Theresa Steiner experienced severe pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress and loss of dignity, Steven Steiner claims.

Steven Steiner blames the defendants for a number of negligent acts, including their failure to properly screen Theresa Steiner before admitting her, their failure to have an adequate wound care nurse on staff, their failure to develop an appropriate plan to treat Theresa Steiner's pressure sores, their failure to advise Theresa Steiner's physician of the deterioration of her pressure sores and their failure to adopt appropriate policies to treat pressure sores.

Registered sex offender groped mentally impaired woman in nursing home, government report states -- chicagotribune.com

Registered sex offender groped mentally impaired woman in nursing home, government report states -- chicagotribune.com: "Contrary to a nursing home's assurance that a registered sex offender presented no recent problems, a newly obtained government report and interviews show that the man allegedly groped a mentally impaired woman at the facility last month.

The Asta Care Center of Toluca in central Illinois failed to fully investigate the incident, implement an appropriate care plan for the sexual predator, Frank Aoskad, or properly monitor him to protect others, according to a Department of Public Health report obtained by the Tribune Friday.

The Facility acknowledged that administrators erred in not interviewing Aoskad or the female about the alleged sexual abuse, as required. But they disputed the state's claim that the nursing home did not monitor Aoskad or have a proper care plan for him.

A Tribune article Friday chronicled allegations of sexual abuse against Aoskad, 80, as part of a wider examination of Illinois nursing homes' failures to notify local law enforcement that they housed convicted sex offenders, as required by law, or to implement plans to isolate, monitor and treat the offenders inside the facilities.

Aoskad is alleged to have molested female residents in two prior incidents at the Asta Toluca home and a sister facility in Bloomington, according to state investigators."

10 Ky. nursing homes among worst in country - Latest News - Kentucky.com

10 Ky. nursing homes among worst in country - Latest News - Kentucky.com: "Ten nursing homes in Kentucky, including one in Lexington, are among the most poorly performing in the United States, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
And, according to the GAO, which provides oversight of federal agencies for Congress, the nursing home receiving the worst scores in Kentucky was also the second most poorly performing nursing home in the United States. The report did not say which of the 10 named in Kentucky was the worst, and GAO official John Dicken said he could not provide the name.
Only 15 states had more poorly performing nursing homes than Kentucky, according to the report."

New York Injury News- Drugged: Illinois nursing home residents victimized - Injury News

New York Injury News- Drugged: Illinois nursing home residents victimized - Injury News: "Legal news for Illinois nursing home abuse attorneys. Nursing home residents throughout Illinois have been given dangerous drugs without cause.
Illinois nursing homes exposed for giving residents psychotropic drug treatment without cause or consent.
Chicago, IL—An in-depth investigative report compiled by the Chicago Tribune, exposed the ugly truth behind the treatment of the fail and vulnerable elderly nursing homes residents throughout the state of Illinois. The explosive report sheds light on the dark practices of Illinois nursing home caregivers who administer powerful and dangerous psychotropic drugs, which have led to debilitating injuries and even death among some of our most vulnerable residents."

State police sweeps removing sex offenders and ex-convicts from nursing homes were halted in 2006 -- chicagotribune.com

State police sweeps removing sex offenders and ex-convicts from nursing homes were halted in 2006 -- chicagotribune.com: "Amid reports that elderly and disabled residents were being assaulted and raped in nursing facilities, a state police unit in 2001 began raiding the homes to haul out unregistered sex offenders and ex-convicts with outstanding arrest warrants for crimes ranging from armed robbery to murder.

Elderly residents lined the corridors to applaud as Illinois State Police marched young thugs and sex offenders out of the nursing homes.

'Everybody was cheering,' former state police Sgt. Rick Klimes recalled.

'We would walk these felons out and the older people would be so glad that we were getting rid of them.'

From January 2005 through June 2006, when 20 northern Illinois nursing homes were swept and roughly 80 fugitives and sex offenders removed, state police in that area recorded a nearly 67 percent decrease in nursing home abuse and neglect complaints, according to a department citation issued to the sweeps unit."